Vanilla Pound Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Oh My! These were really, really, good!

I started with a very buttery vanilla pound cake cupcake and topped them with a Hershey's Cocoa buttercream hat.

The pound cake tends to be a bit on the dense, dry side, so I applied a few brushings of vanilla simple syrup to the top of each and let it soak in for a few minutes before topping with the frosting.

The buttercream is much lighter than I expected, but still very rich.  It did require a trip into the fridge to firm up a bit, but the chilling didn't affect the taste at all.

I love how glossy the frosting is and how chocolaty the flavor is.  I added an extra 1/4 cup cocoa powder, just to give it that rich, dark color.

Mr. Taste-Tester gave them a thumbs-up and said he can't wait for my next trip into cupcake land!